Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Stock Holdings Increased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 157.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 802,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 490,389 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.39% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $62,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter worth $80,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 42.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 221,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,017,000 after buying an additional 65,962 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 112,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,596,000 after buying an additional 10,617 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,232,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $210,591,000 after buying an additional 76,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter worth about $3,080,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $74.38 on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.77 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The company has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a PE ratio of 31.79 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $77.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.33.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 6.40%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JEF has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd.

Insider Activity at Jefferies Financial Group

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total transaction of $2,960,034.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 100,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,431,026.25. This trade represents a 31.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total transaction of $28,904,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,971,288 shares in the company, valued at $1,081,825,270.88. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,086,923 shares of company stock worth $76,381,151 over the last ninety days. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services.